The first words that came out of my child’s mouth one evening was, “Momma, can we grow a garden.” It is hard to tell a three year old the word no when she wants to explore what makes things grow after watching PBS and me reading books to her. So I said, “Yes.” Not having a clue about growing a garden and what I had gotten myself into for the summer, I was in for a surprise! I had seen my grandmother and grandfather do it many times before, so I thought it would be easy. Boy, was I wrong! So, a little advice from me to you: These are the things that you should not do when it comes to planting a garden.
1. Never agree to something that you have no idea what you are doing. I thought by searching the internet and getting suggestions on how to grow a garden would be easy to grow a garden. I did not realize that it was more to it then what I thought. Once, I got to Home Depot in the middle of summer, it was so many vegetables and fruits to select from during the summer season. Do not be like me, and just pick up the cheapest things that look good to grow and think they are all going to grow; they don’t. I picked out some .99 cent seeds of watermelon, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a $1.99 strawberry plant hoping that they would fill the ground with fruit and vegetables.
2. Plow your garden to the correct length and width. When I started the adventure, I did not want to plow very long rows. One, it took too long and second, it is/was hard work to plow just a short rows with just a shovel. The reason the directions give width and length is because the vegetables need room to grow and spread. If you decide to grow a garden, remember to follow the directions and the suggested width and length each plant need. The directions are on the packages for a reason, please use them.
3. Make sure you can grow things in season and on time. Yes, stores sell many vegetables and fruit to plant doing the late winter, spring, and summer. It is important to make sure you select items of things to plant that are for your climate and region and to not wait the last minute to attempt to grow a garden. I think the reason why our garden did not produce like it should have, was that we waited too late to plant them among other things.
4. Water your garden every day. Yes, it is true that a lack of water could have contribute to our garden not producing it fruits. With that been said, water, water, water, everyday even when you do not feel like it.
5. Be prepared to weed your garden. I must confess, we did not weed our garden before or during our harvest time. My child, who wanted this garden would not and refuse to help weed out those pesty plants. She said, she was not getting dirty! Therefore, we had more weeds then plants growing in our garden. So, if you plan to garden, plan to weed it or buy some type of product that will kill those weeds for you. Don’t be like me lazy and cheap and not weed or buy by weed removal for your garden.
Looking back on all of these things that I or we did wrong, I could have done a better job at this project between, my child and I. I have also learn, never to take an idea from a 3 years old who decides later she does not want to help when it was her idea to do it in the first place. But, overall the experience was worth it! My child was able to see what happen when things do not come out like it those in books and on television. However, she did get to see the roots of a watermelon develop with no watermelon, the plant of some tomatoes, with no tomatoes, the plant with no strawberries, and 1 small cucumber out of it that looked weird and I refused to let anyone eat it! In the end, we always have next summer to try again!